


Proposal at the Stadium

by velocitygrass



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-16
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-17 16:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2315264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velocitygrass/pseuds/velocitygrass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone proposes to a "John" in a stadium...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proposal at the Stadium

**Author's Note:**

> Posted for McSheplets challenge #184: Spontaneous

"Why am I here again?" Rodney asked.

"Because I've gone to the concert with you and you want to return the favor?" John suggested. At Rodney's look he went on, "It'll be fun? There's food and"—he leaned in closer so that only Rodney could hear—"I'll make it worth your while tonight."

"Ah, right, that was it," Rodney said, snatching a paper cup of fried something or other from John.

~~

By halftime the team that John had been cheering for was leading. Rodney didn't care, but John was in a good mood, and those fried things had been excellent. He contemplated sending John for more and what else he could get when the video board in the stadium started flashing one of its messages.

_JOHN_ came up letter by letter.

"Hey, that's me," John said with a grin.

Rodney didn't even bother to point out how many Johns were likely to be in the full stadium. He simply rolled his eyes.

_You are the love of my life._

John glanced over to Rodney, still smiling. Then he looked back at the video board.

_Will you marry me?_

The smile slowly faded from John's face, and he swallowed and dropped his gaze. Then he turned to Rodney with a perfunctory smile, "So did you want anything?" he asked.

"Uhm, yes," Rodney said. "More of these, please?" He lifted the paper cup.

"Sure thing," John said, grinning and leaving Rodney alone.

Once John disappeared out of sight, there was a little commotion on the other side of the stadium. Rodney wondered if it was the proposer and the John to which the message had been addressed. He wasn't sure why, but John's reaction to it bothered him. It was just a random stadium message among many others, with the slight quirk that it had been addressed to someone with the same name—a name that happened to be among the most common first names in America—and it shouldn't matter how John reacted to it.

Except that John couldn't have known that Rodney wouldn't send such a message.

They'd booked the tickets to the game well in advance, and despite only having been together for a short while when measured in time since they admitted to being in love, they were in this for the long haul, and marriage was something that could be on the table for them. At least for Rodney.

The thing was, he didn't even think that John hadn't said or asked anything because he didn't want to respond to a proposal. No, for some reason John hadn't even considered that it could have come from Rodney. And that bothered Rodney.

What made it even worse was John's look, which had seemed wistful. As if he could only wish something like that happened to him. As if Rodney would never do something like that. Suddenly Rodney found himself outraged on behalf of a hypothetical him that _had_ ordered a proposal only to be completely dismissed by John.

There was no way for John to know that it hadn't been him. Rodney wanted to spend the rest of his life with John. And since he did want to get married some day, it was only natural that he would want to marry John. So here he was, willing to propose, and John simply assumed that the proposal couldn't have come from him. In a war between outrage and disappointment, the disappointment narrowly won. How could John be so doubtful?

Then Rodney got a grip on himself and reminded himself that he had not actually ordered that message and that it had been some _other_ John who'd been proposed to. Rodney couldn't possibly hold it against John that he had made a _correct_ assumption, could he?

John came back with the food, but Rodney found himself still distracted by the proposal, John's reaction, and the implications.

He wondered if John would bring it up, if only for small talk. Maybe Rodney should do it himself. Maybe John had already forgotten about it.

"Do you think he said yes?" John asked, taking a sip of water that only underlined the careful casualness of the question.

It _did_ matter to John, Rodney knew in that moment. Maybe he wasn't entirely sure, or maybe he knew that it hadn't been Rodney's message and was disappointed, but didn't want to show it. Whatever was going on in John's head, Rodney knew that he _wanted_ a proposal or the possibility of one, even if he wasn't ready to say yes. Or maybe Rodney was just projecting and wanted to pop the question. Either way, he didn't think he'd ever get a better opportunity.

"I don't know," Rodney said. "Will you?"

John's mouth opened in shock. "It _was_ you?" he asked.

Rodney didn't answer, not sure whether to tell the truth or leave it open or outright lie—though it seemed a bit wrong to lie about something like this.

John didn't wait for his answer, however. "Yeah," he said, one corner of his mouth turning up. "I will."

"You'll marry me?" Rodney asked, just to be sure they were on the same page.

"Yes, I will," John said, fully grinning now.

Rodney only stared at him. He'd just proposed to John, and John had said yes. They were engaged!

"Shouldn't you kiss or something?" a guy in the row behind them asked.

John cupped Rodney's face with both hands and pulled him into a kiss. Rodney returned the kiss even if his brain hadn't quite caught up yet with what had just happened.

When John pulled away, he stroked Rodney's cheek with his thumb. "And I don't mind that it wasn't _your_ proposal," he said with a smirk.

Rodney gaped but caught himself. "Are you sure?" he asked.

John's eyes narrowed, then he grinned. "What do you think will make for the better story?" he asked.

Rodney snorted. "I'm not sure I want people to think that a stadium video board was the best I could come up with." Though failing to come up with it and then falsely claiming the idea as his was even worse.

"You can come up with a story before we return. Just let me know so that our stories match," John said.

Wow. He was free to make up his own story about their engagement. It could be something fantastically complicated that would leave people in awe. Or something funny. And romantic. Rodney's mind went into overdrive.

John took his hand and smiled indulgently at Rodney. Rodney looked at John and how happy he was. He got to have this for the rest of his life and everyone would know it. A huge grin broke out on his face.

Really, who cared how he'd proposed? The only thing that mattered was that John had said yes.


End file.
